How do you manage in tough financial times as you pursue a dream of becoming a physician in Barbados when you may not know where the money to help pay your tuition is coming from?
Sabrina Belle, a Bajan student in the faculty of medical sciences at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), can give you chapter and verse about her challenges and the solution.
“I live in a single parent family,” she said recently. “My mother is the only breadwinner. Therefore, most times it was a struggle to continue to fulfil my dream of being a doctor. With the AFUWI [American Foundation of the UWI] Kaye-Foster Cheek scholarship, I can rest assured that my tuition is paid and I can now fully focus on my studies.”
Sabrina isn’t alone. Scores of other Caribbean students face the identical dilemma every year and that’s where AFUWI comes in.
“Through its scholarships to students in need, the AFUWI is performing a vital role and is helping our young people to achieve their goals,” said Sir George Alleyne, a Barbadian who is the UWI’s chancellor.
Take the case of Princeton Browne, a Jamaican, who like Sabrina wants to become a medical doctor.
“Prior to receiving the Spence Family scholarship, the very thought of resuming school this semester brought a cloud of sadness to my mind as I had no idea where the first cent would come from,” said Browne. “I resorted to doing odd jobs while I embark on the mission of soliciting funds for my tuition. When I received the call that I was the recipient of the Spence Family scholarship, the sun in the sky started to shine brighter.”
Scholarships, each for at least US$3 000 but can rise to US$5 000 are awarded annually to dozens of students. In recent years, the foundation, which has been around in New York for more than half a century, has awarded more than US $700 000 in grants to young people studying at Cave Hill in Barbados, Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago and the Open Campus.
During the 2012-13 academic year, the foundation awarded 66 scholarships to Caribbean students.
Scholarship funds are raised through special events, such as the annual awards gala in New York held under the patronage of Harry Belafonte, the world-famous movie, stage and recording super-star; corporate contributions; a unique adopt a student programme for a dollar a day; and by individual donations such as the Kaye Foster-Cheek scholarship programme. Foster-Cheek, a Barbadian, is a top corporate executive in the United States and volunteers to help plan the upscale gala.
For example, the Foundation recently held a “mix and mingle” social evening at the Barbados government offices in Manhattan and it raised almost US$20 000.
“Our scholarships go to students with proven financial need,” explained Anne-Marie Grant, the foundation’s executive director in New York. “They are not simply for academic excellence. Yes academic excellence is part of it but they are for students who have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 but who are really finding it very difficult to survive financially.
Although we do give scholarships to Barbadian and Trinidadian students, whose tuition is paid by their governments, you would find that some of them identified by the individual campuses are people who, in the case of those from Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados whose tuition may be funded 100 per cent, need things like stethoscopes or dental equipment that they must buy on their own. That’s where we would step in,” said Grant.
“We depend a lot on such contributors. Kay Foster Cheeks is one such philanthropist to whom we are indebted.”
Lennox Price, Barbados’ Consul-General who was the host of the recent “mix and mingle” described it as a worthy cause to which Barbados was “only too delighted” to welcome to its offices. Sir George saw other benefits from the event.
“Apart from the money raised, these events let people in the diaspora know more about the UWI,” said the chancellor.” Another thing, many people across the Caribbean aren’t’ aware of the size and the complexity of the UWI.”
